Note: A version of this essay was presented in the form of a lecture entitled 'Voicing the Voiceless' at Conjuring Creativity conference on contemporary art and the esoteric, which took place in London on the 15th and 16th March 2025. “‘Misereatur vestry omnipotens deus, et, dismissis peccatis vestris…’The words issued light as a soap bubble… Continue reading On Voices
Category: literature
On the Dwarf and the Infanta
“‘Mi bella Princesa, your funny little dwarf will never dance again. It is a pity, for he is so ugly that he might have made the King smile.’ ‘But why will he not dance again?’ asked the Infanta, laughing. ‘Because his heart is broken,’ answered the Chamberlain. And the Infanta frowned, and her dainty rose-leaf… Continue reading On the Dwarf and the Infanta
On Fathers, Sons and ‘The Prince of Egypt’
“Mouth at the worm’s ear, Father said: We have loved each other, dear Willie, but now, for reasons we cannot understand, that bond has been broken. But our bond can never be broken. As long as I live, you will always be with me, child. Then let out a sob” George Saunders, Lincoln in the… Continue reading On Fathers, Sons and ‘The Prince of Egypt’
On ‘Phantasmagoregasm’
“In Our Fatal Magic, it is the wound or cut that produces the portal that enables the double movement between becoming and unbecoming.” Bridget Crone, ‘Wounds of Unbecoming’, introduction to Our Fatal Magic by Tai Shani (Strange Attractor Press, 2019) This article should be more properly called ‘On Tai Shani’s Our Fatal Magic’, as it… Continue reading On ‘Phantasmagoregasm’
On Pervy Old Men: Part 2
"Finding oneself in the position of the beloved is so violent a discovery, even traumatic: being loved makes me feel directly the gap between what I am as a determinate being and the unfathomable X in me that causes love. Lacan's definition of love - 'love is giving something one doesn't have ...' has to… Continue reading On Pervy Old Men: Part 2
On Marina Abramović and Pornography
“Simone was tall and lovely. She was usually very natural; there was nothing heartbreaking in her eyes or her voice. But on a sensual level, she so bluntly craved any upheaval that the faintest call from the senses gave her a look directly suggestive of all things linked to deep sexuality, such as blood, suffocation,… Continue reading On Marina Abramović and Pornography
On ‘Paradise Lost’
“Farewell, happy fields Where joy forever dwells: hail horrors, hail Infernal world, and thou profoundest hell Receive thy new possessor: one who brings A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itselfCan make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” John Milton, Paradise Lost (1674) Poster for… Continue reading On ‘Paradise Lost’
On Pervy Old Men: Part 1
“But the picture of the Madonna went with him. Continually, even as he sat in his small hard narrow room or knelt in the cool churches, it stood before his outraged soul with its sultry, dark-rimmed eyes, with a mysterious smile on its lips, naked and beautiful. And no prayer could exorcise it.” Thomas Mann,… Continue reading On Pervy Old Men: Part 1
On Bacchus and the Beast
“ ‘All present, Cap'n!’ responded the mate Opheltes, leading along the shore what he thought was a prize he had won in a lonely meadow, a boy with a beautiful face like a girl's. Their captive appeared to be staggering and struggling behind a drowsy, drunken stupor. I looked at his dress, his face and… Continue reading On Bacchus and the Beast
On ‘Chroma’
"Blue of the bugloss, and self-sown cornflower; Blue of the sage and winter hyacinth; Pink and white roses blooming in June; And the scarlet rosehips, fiery in winter; The bitter sloes to make sweet gin. Brambles in the autumn, And gorse in spring."Derek Jarman, Chroma: A Book of Colour - June 1993 (1993) This is… Continue reading On ‘Chroma’
Sertraline Dreams 